Former UF lineman Jon Harrison hopes an NFL team takes a chance on a natural leader

Harrison turned heads by describing infighting among last year's Gators, but he hopes his determination to never give up leads to a pro football career

May 3, 2014|By Edgar Thompson, Orlando Sentinel

GAINESVILLE — Former Gator Jon Harrison wants what every player in his position does during the NFL draft.

A phone call, maybe a little TV airtime, a team willing to take a chance on him.

"It would be really nice to have my name called," he said.

Names will be flying off the draft board every few minutes on Saturday during the frantic final four rounds. Harrison could go all 156 selections without even a mention.

Harrison, a three-year starter at center for the Gators, is a battle-tested, intelligent lineman who performed well at the NFL Scouting Combine. Yet he does not have the physical stature (6-3 1/2, 304) to play the way he did in college.

"The problem is he plays with a power-running style but doesn't have great size," longtime draft analyst Tony Pauline said. "He's got to try to change his game around a bit. Is he draftable? Maybe in the late rounds.

"Right now I have him as [an undrafted] free agent."

Whatever happens Saturday, Harrison, a former standout at Groveland's South Lake High School, will arrive to a team's rookie mini-camp a week later with questions.

Add to the mix the news Harrison made when he recalled the infighting, finger-pointing and off-the-field ills of last season's 4-8 Gators during a recent story in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

"I'm fine," Harrison told the Orlando Sentinel. "What happened, happened. I'm confident in my ability that I'll get an opportunity. I feel given an opportunity I'll make the best of it."

Harrison, 22, is nothing if not determined.

While 23 starters missed at least one game during an injury-ravaged 2013 season, Harrison started every game.

In the locker room after a stunning loss to Georgia Southern, Harrison implored his teammates not to give up during their final game a week later against unbeaten Florida State — a 37-7 loss.

Harrison hopes a NFL team will see the value of having a natural leader who adapted to a head coaching change and three offensive coordinators during five seasons in Gainesville.

"I think that is part of my personality and upbringing," Harrison said. "My mom would reiterate don't be a follower, be a leader. Whether it was band, whether it was track, whatever it was I was involved with, I would end up in a leadership position.

"It helps to have an ability to step outside of a situation and look at what is going on, just to see how the best way to handle yourself and carry yourself for the benefit of the team."

Harrison was unable to stop the Gators' freefall last season, but he hopes he drew something valuable from it.

"It was a learning experience," he said. "It was a humbling experience, a very maturing experience. I am just going to use it to better myself as a person."

Harrison looked to improve as a player at LeCharles Bentley O-Line Performance, a training center in Arizona. Bentley, a two-time Pro Bowl center during an injury-shortened career, extended an invitation to Harrison last winter and even flew to Gainesville to interview him.

Harrison, who currently is in Ocala living with his parents, said Bentley showed him a new way of training and thinking.

"We wouldn't just work out and do what he told us to do," Harrison said. "He would actually explain why we were doing that. He would show us game film and show us how this workout that we did carries over to offensive line play.

"He completely dissected the offensive line and made it into a science."

Harrison does not need anyone to explain the odds are against him this week. But Harrison, a double major in criminology and anthropology at UF, will have options if the NFL does not work out. He's prepared for whatever comes his way.

"Playing professionally is not a guarantee," he said. "One injury can change everything. Maybe you don't sign with a team where you can't really contribute and your career just kind of dissipates.